Trademarks must be adjectives, not nouns...

Published 20060503 by Olivier Blanchard | E-mail this post

Okay, so this post isn't so much about branding as it is about trademarking (yes, there's a HUGE difference), but this article (by Marc Jacobs) does such a wonderful job of explaining some of the hurdles that sometimes get in the way when companies with limited experience in these types of exercises try to trademark new products or services, that I couldn't resist posting a link to it.

(Thanks to the Strategic Name Development blog for the heads-up.)

This will get you started:

When I sat down to write this piece, I purposely chose the title, "What Not to Name Your Product," so that you would better appreciate and understand that there are specific rules pertaining to the registration of trademarks. These rules dictate, for example, which marks are not registrable (generally) and which marks relating to specific products or services are not registrable. And my subsequent comments about trademarks will be applicable to both trademarks and service marks.

Read the whole thing here...

It's well worth bookmarking. (If you don't, it's just a matter of time before you wish you had.)

;)